Wire-rod-straightening machine.



No. 696,344. Patented Mar.'25, I902.. 6. DE LAVAL & C. W. CHISHOLM.

WIRE BOD STRAIGHTENING MACHINE.

(Application filed Kay 2, 1901:) a (N0 loddh) 2 Sheets-Shoat llllllllllllll (No new.

v Patented Mar'. 25, 1902. a. ma LAVAL-& c. w. CHISHULM. WIRE, RODSTRAIGHTENING MACHINE.

(Application filed X1117 2, 1901.) I

' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

- ))))))))lllllllllflllllllll )nmllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllflflhllllllllllllIllllIIIlllllllllllllllllllIIIIIHIIIU I A Mg A Vf-M YHEuonms' PETERS co.. PHOTQ-UTNQ" wasmucrom 04 c.

; UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE DE LAVAL, OF CAMBRIDGE, AND CHARLES WV. OHISHOLM, OF SOMER-VILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO INTERNATIONAL STEAM PUMP COMPANY, OFNEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

W IR E-ROD-STRAIGHTENING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 696,344, dated March 25,1902.

' Application filed May 2, 1901. Serial No. 58,451. (No modelJ To aZZwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE DE LAVAL, of Cambridge, and CHARLES W.GHIsHoLM, of Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWVire-Rod Straightening Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to the straightening IQ of wire rods; and itsobject is to provide a machine capable of straightening short lengths ofwire or wire rods which have been bent into various shapes and in whichthe different parts of the rods are in various planes and extend atvarious angles to the other parts of the rods or wires. Wire rods ofsuch a character are extensively used in foundry-work to support thecores used in such work, these core-wires, as they are called, beingbent into all sorts of shapes to suit the various cores in which theyare used and also being of various lengths and sizes.

of these wires when done at all'has been slow and expensive, being doneby hand, and manufacturers have'frequently found it less expensive touse new wires for the cores than go to'straighten the old core-wires.

The present invention provides an efficientmeans by which core-wires orother bent or crooked wire 'rods may be quickly straightened at littleexpense, thus enabling the re- 5 peated use of the core-wires and amaterial reduction in the cost of wire used in the foundry-work. Thedevices employed for straight ening the wires comprise rolls which actto grip the end of the rod and draw it forward, a bending device throughwhich the rod is drawn, and a device arranged to receive the end of therod as it comes from the rolls and acting to rectify or prevent bendingof the rod by the action of the rolls. The bending 5 device is soconstructed that it will engage any part of the rod which is bent or outof line with the part passing through the center of the bending device,whatever the angle or direction in which said bent part extends from 7After the castings have been made the core-Wires are either.

the center of said bending devicethat is to say, the bending device iswhat may be termed for convenience in hereinafter referring thereto auniversal bending device. As the rod is drawn through the bending deviceany and all bends or crooks areremoved by the action of said device,.andthe rod is straightened as it passes to the feeding-rolls. The action ofthe rolls upon the rod as it passes between them, due to inequalities inthe density of the rod or to variations in the size or to other causes,is liable to and usually does tend to bend or curve the rod, so that asthe end of the wire comes from between the rolls it will travel in acurved path, and the direction of this path is uncertain, varying withdifferent rods. To'prevent or rectify this action of the rolls, sothatsthe rods will be de .livered straight instead of being delivered ina curved form, as would otherwise frequently,

if not always, be the case, a device is arranged behind the rolls toreceive the end of therod as it comes from between the rolls, andthisdevice is so constructed that it will act to rectify or preventbending of the rod by the actionof the rolls. This device is preferablyin the form of a guide arranged adjacent to the rolls and acting tocause the rod to travel away from the rolls in a straight line. V

The invention can be best understood by referring to a machine embodyingthe invention,and in the accompanying drawings a machine has thereforebeen illustrated which embodies the features of the invention in asimple, efficient, and preferred form.

In these drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of such machine. Fig. 2is an end elevation, the gears being indicated by dotted lines. Fig. 3is a ,vertical sectional view. Fig. 4 is a detail showing the rolls.Figs. 5 and 6 are details of a rear guideand locking means.

In the machine shown the rolls A B for feeding or drawing forward thewire rods are mounted in boxes a, I), supported in the end standards 0,and said rolls are connected to revolve in unison by gears a 17 securedto the ends of the rolls. The rolls are driven through a driving-shaftD, suitably mounted and having secured thereto a pulley d and pinions d,which engage gears 12 secured to the ends of the lower roll IS. Therolls are provided with registering grooves a. bflshaped tosubstantially fit the size of wire to be acted upon, and these groovesmaybe and preferably are corrugated, so as to more firmly grip the rodpassing through the rolls. The boxes Z) of the lower roll arestationary, and the boxes a of the upper rolls are movable and areforced downward by springs e, mounted in suitable guides formed in thetop plate E above said boxes. The pressure of the rolls upon the rods,and consequently the grip thereon, may be regulated by adjusting theforce of the spring 6 by means of screwsf.

The bending device through which the rods are drawn by the rollscomprises a cylindrical guiding-passage g of substantially the diameterof the rods to be straightened and a surrounding bending-surface g infront of said guiding-passage and out of line therewith, so that it willact upon the rod to one side of the line of force drawing said rodthrough the cylindrical guide. The bending-surface preferably convergestoward the central passage and forms a cam-surface,

which surrounds the rod and engages any part of the rod which may bebent or out of line with the passage g and directs said bent part intosaid line. As this cam or bending surface surrounds the rod passingthrough the passage g, it will act equally well upon all sides of saidpassage and is asimple and efficient form of universal bending devicefor cooperating with the rolls in straightening rods having bentportions extending in various directions and planes. The bending deviceis preferably made in the form of a bushing G, provided with a centralbore 9, having a bellmouth and mounted in a hole in the front plate Hand held against forward movement by a flange g which engages the frontface of said plate, which forms a rigid abutment for resisting the heavystrain put upon the bushing in drawing the rod therethrough. With thisconstruction the bushing is effectively supported to resist the heavystrain put thereon and still may be readily removed to allow access tothe rolls, if desired. In the rear of the rolls a guide is arranged sothat it receives the end of the rod as it comes from the rolls andcauses it and the following parts of the rod to travel in astraightline.This guide is preferablyin the form of a cylindrical passage 71,substantially the size of the rod being acted upon and provided with abell-mouth t", arrangedin close proximity to the rolls. WVith thisconstruction the end of the rod will engage the cam-surface formed bythe bell-mouth of the guide in case said end is deflected out of line bythe action of the rolls and will be directed into the cylindrical partof the guide and be caused to travel in a straight line through saidcylindrical part. The guide is preferably made in a bushing I, mountedin a hole in the rear plate H and removably held therein by a lockingdevice, so that it may be readily removed to give access to the rolls. Asimple and convenient form of locking device is that shown, whichconsists of a U- shaped bar 70, the legs of which pass through groovesin the rear plate H and through slots i formed in the bushings I, thebars being held in the grooves by a plate L. The bushing is rigidly heldin place by the lockingbar, which may be readily removed to allow thebushing to be drawn out when desired.

The core-wires used in a foundry vary in diameter from one-fourth of aninch or less to three-fourths of an inch or more, and a single machinemay be given the capacity of straightening the various sizes of wires byproviding the rolls A B with a series of grooves of varying sizes to fitthe various sizes of wires and providing cooperating series of bendingdevices and guides. The machine shown is of such a character, the rollsbeing provided with five grooves of different sizes and the front andrear plate being formed to support a corresponding number of bendingdevices and guides constructed to cooperate with the various grooves inthe rolls.

The operation of the machine will be readily understood by reference toFig. 3. Suppose, for instance, the wire rod to be straightened has theshape indicated-that is, that the part 12 extends at right angles to thepart or and the part 01 extends at right angles to the part 11. and atsubstantially a right angle to the plane of the parts 72 n. The end ofthe rod is thrust through the bushing Gand into the grip of the rolls AB, by which it is fed or drawn forward, the part 92. extending in anydirection with relation to the bushing G as, for instance, verticallyupward. As the part 72 is drawn through the passage g the part it isbrought into engagement with the bending-surface g, which is above thepart n, and said part 91 is bent downward into line with the passage 9,thus bringing the parts at n into line with each other. As the part 01passes through the passage g the part 01'' engages the bending-surface gat one side of the passage g, and said part 97, is bent into line withthe passage g. As the front end of the rod comes from between the rollsit may tend to move out of the proper line of travel, owing to theaction of the rolls upon the rod passing between them, and this tendencymay be in any directionas, for instance, vertically downward. If the endof the rod is thus deflected, it engages the converging surface i of thebell-mouthed guide and is directed up into the cylindrical passage 71,through which it and the following parts of the rod travel away from therolls in a straight line.

The bending-surface of the bending device should be to one side or outof the line of the central guiding-passage, so that it will act againstthe rod to one side of the line of force drawing the rod forward, andthe outer part of-such bending-surface should be sufficiently toone-side to properly act upon the rod when it has sharp bendstherein-that is, the bending-surface should be properly lo cated to bendthe parts of the rod into line wires and similarly-bent wire rods, thecom- 'bination of a bending device constructed and arranged to act uponrods having parts bent in various planes and at various angles to eachother and to direct said parts into a I 5 straight line as the rods arevdrawn through said bending device, rolls for gripping said rods anddrawing them through said bending device, and a device in the rear ofthe rolls constructed and arranged to receive the ends of the rods asthey come from the rolls and rectify or prevent bending of said rods bythe action of the rolls,- substantially as de scribed.

2. In a machine for straightening corewires and similarly-bent wirerods, the combination of a bending device having a centralguiding-passage and a surrounding bending-surface arranged to engageparts of the rods extending at various angles to the cen- 0 tral passageand in various planes and to direct said parts into the central passageas the rods are drawn therethrough rolls for gripping and drawing therods through thebending device, and means for supporting the 3 5 bendingdevice to resist the strain put thereon by drawing the rodstherethrough, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for straightening corewires and similarly-bent wirerods, the combination of a bushing G having a shoulder thereon, a rigidabutment engaging said shoulder, a central passage 9 through saidbushing, a bending-surface g at the mouth of said passage arranged toengage parts of the rods extending at various angles from the passage gand in various planes and direct said parts into the passage g, rolls AandB having grooves registering with the passage 9, means for operatingsaid rolls to drawthe rods through the bushing G", and a guide I in therear of said rolls, substantially as described.

4.1In a machine for straightening corewires and similarly-bent wirerods,'the combination of a series of bending devices having centralpassages of varying diameters, a bending-surface surrounding eachpassage arranged to engage parts of the rods extending at various anglesto the central passage and in various planes and direct said parts intosaid passage, rolls provided with a series of grooves corresponding indiameters to the sizes ofthe central passages and registering therewith,means for supporting the bending devices to resist the strain putthereon by drawing the rods therethrough,'and a series of devices fordirecting the rods away from the rolls in straight lines, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE DE LAVAL. O. W. OHISHOLM. \Vitnesses:

H. S. HAMBLETT, JOHN J. FINLEY.

